My girlfriend bought an 02 Lexus ES300 from a used car lot for $2000 (she is a Scotty fan as well 🙂 ). The transmission went out after a couple of months, so she got it rebuilt for $3000 (what a rip-off). Of course, she did all this before she met me, haha. Now, she says she is getting a P0420, P0330 error code. She got a quote for $3000 from Firestone, and $1500 from a mechanic who operates from home. I was thinking of doing this myself: replace the knock sensors by opening the top of the engine valley and replace with OEM sensor pairs and cables I got for $40 on ebay. Also, for the 2 cat converters, I was thinking of getting both for $400 with O2 sensors preinstalled on eBay and do it myself? I will agree I am a novice but should I do it myself or pay someone to do it? Since she has already spent so much on it, I prefer she doesn't sell it as she needs it to go to school and budget is a problem. Also, The vacuum hoses have been not put in correctly since the transmission job, how do I take care of that?
Mileage is 156k
First make sure that you do not have any vacuum leak. For the CAT problem, before replacing it, check the down stream O2 sensors and look for any leak. At that mileage (if it is legit), you should not have CAT problems.
